I just got back from celebrating my 10-year anniversary in Cabo San Lucas. It was absolute paradise! We stayed at the Casa Dorado right on the beach, and we could not have been happier. We got to go sport fishing, snorkeling, jet skiing, sleep in, read a book in silence…pure heaven. It was the best vacation I’ve had in a very long time.

But now its time to get back to reality.

I’ve got a lot brewing here. Quilts in various stages and lots of ideas spinning in my head. So definitely stay tuned. Also have a couple big changes coming to the blog…like its location and official web address…so keep your eyes peeled.

Here is a quilt I finished a few months ago but haven’t had the chance to blog about it. This one was for one of my absolute dearest friends and her brand new baby girl.

I jumped on the chevron bandwagon and had a ball. I wanted to keep it simple, but playful and really let the quilting show. One of these days I’ll try my hand at all-over meandering, but I just couldn’t resist some diagonal straight stitching on this creamy white solid fabric.

The back is a cute little bear flea market print. Great for playing I-spy later when little CC gets older.

Here’s a close up of the quilting on the back. Just straight diagonal lines. I quilted about an eight of an inch on either side of the seams of the chevron blocks. So the skinny lines are about a quarter-inch apart. And of course a little chubby baby leg shows off the quilt perfectly.

I had so much fun putting this one together that it inspired another quilt that I hope to share in a couple of weeks.

I hope you all are well. Again, keep checking back for some moving and shaking coming up soon!

I might have a bit of a hoarding problem…but only with fabric…and maybe notebooks (I can’t resist a spiral notebook…or office supplies for that matter, but that’s another sickness).

For as long as I can remember I have always loved fabric. And not just quilting cottons. I can remember going to the fabric store and just walking up and down the aisles touching the fabric…tell me I’m not the only one who did this. I still do it. I can also peruse any number of online fabric shops, filling my cart to the brim, even if I have no intention of buying anything. It just feels good to look at fabric…to dream about the possibilities.

But my problem with fabric goes much deeper…I’m afraid to waste it…so much so that I sometimes stand paralyzed looking at a project because I don’t want to screw up and waste any fabric. I will even adjust a pattern if I think I’m going to waste too much fabric.

So what’s a quilter to do when you want to sew, but don’t have the guts to just cut into that stack already?

Warning…this post has almost nothing to do with quilting or sewing directly…but it has a lot to do with life lessons.

About 6 weeks ago, I begged my husband to join the local gym. It isn’t a national chain, but local to the bay area. It’s the nicest gym I’ve every been to. On top of the general workout gear, cardio machines, classes offered and personal training, they offer an amazing childcare center; a spa for manicures, pedicures, haircuts/color, etc; a cafe with coffee, sandwiches, smoothies and a lot more; a pool with hot tub; and a bar…that’s right…a bar. I can work out, shower, and then go have a beer or a glass of wine with the hubster all in the same place. It’s like a mini-date that we’ve already paid for at the beginning of the month. And the kids love to go, so I have no problem dropping them off for the full two and a half hours allowed :)

So here are some of the things I’ve learned from the gym in these first 6 weeks:

1) No one is really watching. No one really cares how you look or how much weight you can lift…because they are too busy lifting their own weights, or checking themselves out in the mirror. (I should probably mention that this isn’t a meat market gym…people are probably checking you out there).

2) This apparently applies to the locker room too. I’ve never seen so many naked people just doing their own thing (I haven’t been to any nudist events…so maybe my perspective would be a bit different otherwise). No body is checking out stretch marks or boobs or muscle tone. Everybody is just doing their thing, getting ready for the day.

3) The more you get into a class, the more fun you will have. Go ahead…grunt when you lift that weight…give a little woot woot when the instructor asks if you can feel it. Putting all you can of yourself into something really does give you a whole lot in return.

4) It’s ok to try something new…and fail. Try that new class…try a heavier weight…you might like it/lift it…you might hate it/drop it like its hot…but at least you tried it.

5) Showering without interruption is priceless when you have small kids. I pretty much knew this one before we joined the gym…but now I get to test the theory a lot more often.

6) I really like fruit-infused water. Not really a life lesson, but it ties into lesson 4…try something new…you might like it.

My daughter is of that happy age when teeth start wiggling and jiggling and popping out.

Can I just say right now that wiggling teeth give me the heebie-jeebies. I’m talking spine-tingling, stomach-turning heebie-jeebies. Luckily my hubby can handle this. Whew!

My daughter was super excited about the tooth fairy…and all the goodies he/she might bring. Being the totally unprepared, fly by the seat of my undies parent that I am I had to whip up a tooth fairy pillow the day of. My daughter said it had to be a pillow she could set on her bed…not a little pouch to hang on her doorknob as I suggested (hoping for a little easier tooth fairy duty). So here’s what I came up with…

Ta-Da!

The pillow fabric is left over from a skirt I made my mom. The tooth and heart are felt. I just free-handed the shape of the tooth and had my daughter help me with the heart. Both of the felt pieces are open at the top to create pockets. The tooth goes in the heart and the tooth fairy leaves his/her surprise in the tooth pocket.

And yes…that is a $5 bill…apparently the tooth fairy rates have increased exponentially since I was a kid. Maybe the tooth fairy will deliver a quarter or a dollar next time…just to keep things interesting.

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And just a little teaser…something really exciting is brewing around here. You’ll have to stay tuned to find out!

Have any of you heard about Quiltcon? It is a conference put on by The Modern Quilt Guild for all things modern quilting. This year was the first ever conference held in Austin, TX (my hometown). I heard it was spectacular. If you are interested click on the links above. You can also check out the lectures from the event for free on Craftsy.

I didn’t get to go. Totally bummed and still a little bitter about that. But I got to go to Craftcation instead, so I can’t complain. Anyways, The Modern Quilt Guild held a contest for the conference. Quilters from all around the world entered up to 3 quilt blocks for the chance to have their blocks featured in a final quilt that would be raffled/auctioned (can’t remember) at the event. The remaining blocks would be assembled into several quilts that would be donated to charity. How awesome! Sign me up!

So here is what I came up with:

My three quilt blocks for The Modern Quilt Guild QuiltCon Challenge

The challenge required us to use the colors of the Quiltcon Logo. Love the colors! Here is a little look at each block and the inspiration behind it.

First up…Random Squared

Each little square measures 1 inch by 1 inch. The pattern is totally random, however I can’t tell you how many times I moved little squares around, snapped a pic, then moved some more. I decided to leave out the charcoal gray color because it felt a little overpowering.

Next up: Stereo Levels

Do you see it? It reminded me of the sound bars on a stereo. I can’t remember the dimensions of each piece exactly, but I believe each little piece finished at 1 inch by 2.5 inches.

And finally: twist and turn

This is a doodle I’ve been drawing on graph paper since I was little. I was inspired by the drawings of M.C. Esher and celtic designs. The idea is that the colors all flow into one another and then come back full circle, but with lots of twists and turns. The inner squares finish at 1 inch by 1 inch.

It was a lot of fun to work with this challenge. While I didn’t make it into the final quilt, I did make it on the stage. They used some of the charity quilts as a backdrop for the presenters at Quiltcon. Can’t wait to see what challenge they come up with next year. Crossing my fingers I get to attend next year!

Here is a Nautical Themed quilt for a special little addition to our extended family. The quilt is made using the “Sweet Dreams Sailboat” pattern from the book Last-Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts. The pattern was perfect for this occasion and went together beautifully. I used all Kona Solids on the front.

Nautical Themed Quilt Back for a Friend

For the back I found this cute sailing-themed print that just worked perfectly.

I was really stumped for the longest time as to how to quilt this one. Then I decided to follow the diagonal of the sails, but have them meet at a point in the center. Might have to follow this quilting again, as it was quick and gave some nice movement to the quilt.